Chapter 117 The Test Subject
The next day, Alex made his way to Farengar at Dragonsreach.
"Farengar, I need a large number of soul gems," Alex said calmly. "It doesn't matter whether they're filled or empty or petty soul gem but I need a lot of them."
Inside his mind, Alex thought:
(I need those soul gems to level up my enchanting quickly and unlock the double enchantment perk. My enchanting is already at 83… just a little more until I reach 100 and gain that ability.)
Farengar looked at Alex, slightly surprised by the request for such a large quantity. He didn't particularly care what Alex intended to use them for but then he remembered something Alex had once promised him.
"Hm… it will take some time for me to gather that many, but it's not impossible. However…" Farengar trailed off.
Alex let out a quiet sigh, already knowing what was coming.
"Alright, what's the price this time? Dragon bones or dragon scales?"
Farengar's eyes suddenly lit up with excitement.
"You promised, didn't you? You said you'd let me experiment on that… inventory of yours the one invisible to the naked eye. The one that can store so many items in a hidden space. I want to study that magic now."
Alex blinked, then recalled that promise.
"Ah… right, I remember. Hm…"
(But didn't I make that promise because I didn't have enough gold to buy three grand soul gems back then? Did he forget that… or is he just pretending not to remember?)
Farengar studied Alex's expression carefully.
"I know that promise was made when you wanted to buy three grand soul gems," he said calmly. "And you offered that deal. I haven't forgotten."
Alex's eyes widened in surprise before he let out a small laugh.
"Hehe… sorry. Then why didn't you bring it up again during our trades?"
Farengar smiled faintly.
"Oh, I have been doing business just in a different way. I've been building a strong relationship with my supplier, haven't I? I've noticed you only sell dragon bones to me or the Jarl. So you could say… I'm not as stingy as you might think."
Alex grinned, then laughed.
"Hahaha, you really are an interesting mage. I thought most mages were even more greedy than I imagined."
Farengar frowned slightly, clearly a bit annoyed.
"Hey, what exactly do you take me for?"
Alex continued laughing for a moment before calming down.
"Hahaha… haah, sorry about that. Alright, I agree. And I'm thinking of becoming your regular customer, okay? And don't worry if I ever sell dragon bones, it'll definitely be to you or Jarl Balgruuf."
Farengar's expression softened into a genuine smile.
"Thank you."
Not long after, Alex let out a small breath and gave a reluctant nod, silently accepting his role as Farengar's test subject. He rolled his shoulders as if preparing himself, then stepped a little closer.
"Alright then…" Alex said, his tone calm but laced with mild curiosity. "What do you want me to do?"
Farengar didn't answer immediately. His eyes were already fixed on Alex, gleaming with an almost childlike excitement, as if he had just been handed a rare and priceless artifact.
"Good…" Farengar murmured, stepping closer and slightly circling Alex, observing him from different angles. "Try taking out an item from thin air. I want to observe the space around it carefully."
Alex gave a short nod. He lifted his right hand slowly, fingers slightly spread, as if grasping something invisible. For a brief second, nothing happened.
Then
A faint distortion rippled through the air, like heat shimmering above a flame. A subtle, glitch-like flicker danced around his hand, accompanied by a quick flash of dim blue light so brief it could have been mistaken for imagination. In the next instant, an item materialized firmly in his grasp.
The distortion vanished just as quickly as it appeared, leaving the air still once more.
Farengar's eyes widened instantly, his entire posture stiffening in excitement. He leaned forward, almost invading Alex's personal space, his gaze locked onto the spot where the phenomenon had just occurred.
"Woah…" he breathed out, his voice filled with awe. "Fascinating… truly fascinating…"
He adjusted his stance, lowering himself slightly to inspect from another angle, as if afraid he might miss even the smallest detail. After a moment, he straightened and snapped his attention back to Alex.
"Did you notice that?" Farengar asked quickly, his tone sharp with anticipation. "That brief blue spark it appeared for just a fraction of a second and then vanished. Did you feel anything? See anything unusual?"
Alex blinked, glancing at the item in his hand before looking back at Farengar. His brows furrowed slightly, genuinely confused. Then he simply shook his head.
"…No. Nothing."
Farengar froze for half a second, then immediately pulled out a piece of paper and began writing at a rapid pace. The scratching sound of his quill filled the room as he scribbled down observations, occasionally muttering fragments of theories under his breath.
"…Spatial distortion… momentary energy discharge… unstable manifestation…"
After a few moments, he stopped writing and looked up again, eyes still burning with curiosity.
"You can make items appear in your hand…" he said slowly, tapping the end of his quill against the paper. Then his gaze sharpened.
"But can you make them disappear as well?"
Alex thought for a moment before answering.
"It's not exactly disappearing. It's more like the item goes into an invisible inventory… maybe you could call it teleportation? No… not quite. It's more like there's a separate space where I store items, so I don't feel any weight from the things I've kept inside it."
Farengar's expression grew even more intrigued, his eyes shining with the excitement of discovering new knowledge. He immediately wrote everything down again, clearly fascinated by the explanation.
They continued their experiments for half a day, with Alex answering whatever he could based on his understanding. Through those tests, Alex himself began to realize several aspects of the inventory system things he had either never noticed before or had simply forgotten.
First, the inventory system could summon an item within a range of about one meter. However, Alex couldn't make an item appear inside a wall or within a solid object. He needed an empty space for the item to materialize.
That said, if there was an empty box and Alex tried to summon an item inside it, the item would appear successfully as long as it was small enough to fit inside the box. If the item was larger than the container, then it simply couldn't be summoned and for item inside box he can't take it away he must touch the item.
Second, Alex could summon items directly into his hand and one advantage of this was that the item could momentarily pass through objects or obstacles. However, it depended on the durability of the object involved. For example, if Alex summoned a sword near a wall, the sword would still materialize, but whether it could pass through the wall depended on its strength. If it wasn't strong enough, the sword could end up cracking, breaking in half, or even being violently deflected.
Third, Alex couldn't freely store items without limits. He realized that while exceeding the inventory capacity didn't physically burden him just like in a game where weight doesn't slow movement there was still a restriction. If the inventory was full, any additional item would simply be rejected. The item would briefly disappear, only to reappear again as if it had been pushed back out of the inventory itself.
Alex let out a long, heavy breath, his shoulders slumping as the fatigue finally caught up to him. He rolled his neck slowly, wincing a little at the stiffness, then dragged a hand across his face as if trying to wipe away the exhaustion.
"Alright…" he muttered, his voice slightly hoarse. "I've learned quite a lot about my ability…"
His eyes shifted toward Farengar. In stark contrast, the mage stood perfectly upright, his posture sharp, his eyes still bright with energy as if the past half day of experiments had only fueled him further rather than drained him.
Alex swallowed, suddenly feeling even more tired just looking at him.
"So… are we done?" he asked, a hint of hesitation in his tone.
Farengar turned his head toward Alex, blinking once as if just returning from deep thought. Then he gave a small, satisfied nod.
"Yes, that will be enough for now," he said calmly. "I've also gathered a considerable amount of information about your power." He tapped the side of his shoulder lightly with his finger. "I'll call for you again once I've reached a proper conclusion."
He paused briefly, then added,
"As for the soul gems… give me a moment."
Without waiting, Farengar turned and walked toward the back of the room. The faint sound of wood scraping against stone echoed as he pulled out a fairly large chest and set it down with a dull thud.
He flipped the lid open and gestured toward it.
"Here. Take the petty soul gems and nothing beyond that."
Alex stepped closer and peered inside. The faint glimmer of soul gems reflected in his eyes. A small, mischievous smile crept onto his lips, and he scratched the back of his head casually.
"Hehe… can I take more?" he asked, glancing sideways at Farengar.
Farengar didn't even hesitate. He slowly turned his head, fixing Alex with a sharp, piercing glare his eyes narrowing just enough to make the message clear.
Alex stiffened instantly.
"Alright, alright!" he said quickly, raising both hands in surrender, a nervous laugh escaping him. "I'll just take the petty soul gems. Sorry…"
He crouched down by the chest and began gathering the gems, his movements quick but careful. The faint clinking sound of crystal against crystal echoed softly as he sorted them.
One by one, the gems vanished from his hands as he stored them into his inventory.
When he was done, he had taken:
100 Petty Soul Gems (empty) 60 Petty Soul Gems (filled)
Alex straightened up, stretching his back slightly as he let out a satisfied hum. A wide grin spread across his face, his earlier exhaustion momentarily forgotten.
"Hmm… this is quite a lot," he said, clearly pleased. "With this, I can train without worrying about running out of supplies."
With a final glance at the now lighter chest, Alex dusted off his hands and gave Farengar a small nod. Then, without lingering any longer, he turned and made his way out his footsteps echoing softly as he headed back home.
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